The 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker peered through his clear visor as Liberty quarterback Josh Woodrum awaited the snap in the third quarter of No. 23 UNC’s 56-29 rout of the Flames on Saturday.
Lined up in the pistol formation, Woodrum received the snap and faked the handoff to his running back, while Schoettmer, with the sheer intention of blowing up the run, took two steps in before backpedaling into coverage.
The Liberty tight end streaking up the middle of the field was Woodrum’s immediate target — and Schoettmer eased underneath him as Woodrum pulled back his arm to throw.
With the ball sailing just above his head, Schoettmer sprung into midair to snag it and sprinted down the left sideline toward pay dirt with his golden mane flowing behind him.
As he approached the pylon with seemingly little gas left in the tank, he stumbled into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown return — giving UNC a 13-point advantage it would never relinquish.
“I saw it was a pass read first, and then I saw an opening in the line and saw great eye contact with the quarterback. I just saw he was in the passing position,” Schoettmer said. “I just dropped straight back. The guy was running behind me, and I just jumped it and took it to the house.”
His pick-six was the second of four touchdowns the Tar Heels scored during a three-minute-and-49-second span during the third quarter and the first of three consecutive Liberty possessions that resulted in turnovers.
“You could just tell the whole energy of the sideline changed,” Schoettmer said. “It just snowballed from there.”
